Sabres pull away from Bruins

Drew Stafford scored to snap a tie with 5:41 remaining in the third period as the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Boston Bruins, 4-2, posting back-to-back victories for the first time this season.

The game was the opener of a home-and-home series. The teams will meet again in Boston on Saturday.

Marcus Foligno and Brian Flynn each collected a goal and an assist and defenseman Tyler Myers also tallied as the Sabres improved to 3-0-1 in their last four contests. Ryan Miller turned aside 34 shots to improve to 26-9-7 in his career against the Bruins.

Brad Marchand scored twice in a 74-second span early in the second period for his ninth career two-goal game.

Chad Johnson finished with 19 saves for Boston, which has dropped two of three following a four-game winning streak.

Although the Bruins held a 15-5 edge in shots in the third period, Stafford snapped a 2-2 tie after skating behind the net before tucking a wraparound shot past Johnson for his third goal.

Myers scored 80 seconds later after cheating in and wristing a shot from the right circle for Buffalo, which also posted a 4-2 victory over Winnipeg on Tuesday.

After his actions in Vancouver caused stern comments from his own coach and general manager, Marchand scored a short-handed goal 1:50 into the second period before giving Boston its first lead after one-timing a circle-to-circle pass from Patrice Bergeron. Foligno knotted it up by tapping home a loose puck after defenseman Jamie McBain's shot hit him on the doorstep with 2:49 remaining in the session.

Eriksson update

Chiarelli couldn't offer an estimate on the prognosis for Loui Eriksson, who suffered a concussion, his second in 45 days, on a hit by Pittsburgh's Brooks Orpik 13 days ago.

"We're careful with that," the GM said. "I talked to Loui a little bit (Monday). He's coming along, but he's still experiencing symptoms. With that type of injury, you see slow improvements, and that's what Loui is going through right now. So I don't know what the time period would be."

NOTES: Boston coach Claude Julien and GM Peter Chiarelli took issue with Marchand after the 25-year-old pretended to lift the Stanley Cup and kissed his ring finger in front of the Canucks on Saturday. ... Boston D David Warsofsky made his NHL debut after being recalled from Providence of the American Hockey League on Wednesday. ... Buffalo acquired LW Linus Omark from Edmonton in a trade for a conditional sixth-round pick.The Boston Herald contributed to this report.